McVeigh rethinks death wish

FBI blunder may spark fight for life

WASHINGTON (AP) Timothy McVeigh's lawyers said Sunday he is re-evaluating his position on wanting to be executed after learning the FBI failed to disclose evidence in the Oklahoma City bombing case.

The FBI's lapse has prompted members of Congress to urge hearings into how it happened, and one Democrat wants President Bush to appoint a blue-ribbon commission to review the FBI.

McVeigh has not instructed his defense team to pursue a particular legal strategy. However, attorney Robert Nigh said when McVeigh made his original decision not to pursue further appeals, he had no idea the FBI had withheld evidence.

''In light of that, it's completely reasonable for him to re-evaluate his position,'' Nigh told ''Fox News Sunday.'' ''The facts of the case are now certainly at issue.''

McVeigh ''has indicated now that he is at least willing to take a fresh look at things, hear our analysis of the facts contained within the documents and our legal analysis of his options,'' Nigh said on CBS' ''Face the Nation.''

A second defense lawyer questioned whether the FBI has disclosed all evidence. ''Are we going to learn next week that there are yet more documents?'' Nathan Chambers said on ABC's ''This Week.''

''There are a lot of questions that a lot of people have for the FBI, and as we move forward in these next few days, that question will be one that is answered,'' said Mindy Tucker, spokeswoman for U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft.

A former prosecutor in the case said she believed the foul-up was unintentional and that the documents should not affect the case's outcome.

''He has confessed to the crime. The evidence during the trial was absolutely overwhelming,'' Beth Wilkinson said on ABC. ''I believe it is very unlikely that there will be any information that would be useful to Mr. McVeigh.''

A CBS News poll released Sunday evening found 40 percent of those surveyed believe the documents were withheld on purpose and 41 percent believe it was a mistake. However, 68 percent agreed that his execution should be delayed.

The survey questioned 1,063 adults from Thursday through Saturday, but only 670 of them after Friday's announcement of the execution delay. The margin of error on the questions related to the document release and execution delay was 4 percentage points.

McVeigh and his lawyers are considering whether to seek a delay in his execution, scheduled for Wednesday but postponed until June 11 by Ashcroft because of the evidence foul-up.

Ashcroft said he will not impose any further delays.

Just days before McVeigh was to be executed, the FBI disclosed that some 3,135 investigation materials including interview reports and physical evidence such as photographs, letters and tapes were withheld from McVeigh's lawyers.

McVeigh was to be executed for the April 19, 1995, bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City that killed 168 people, including 19 children.

The defense team has just begun reviewing the documents and Nigh said he was not prepared to disclose what was in them. He did, however, contend that ''the fact of the production itself could possibly change the legal outcome of the case.''

McVeigh, who is in a federal penitentiary in Terre Haute, Ind., had indicated he ''did not wish to spend the rest of his life in an 8-by-12 cell,'' Nigh said. But that was after losing court appeals, and before the new evidence now available to him, the lawyer said.

Asked about trying to put off the execution beyond June 11, Nigh said: ''It is his case, and he has to determine what he wants to do.''

Ashcroft was quoted in Sunday's editions of The Daily Oklahoman as saying that ''ample time'' has been given to the defense lawyers and that he has no intention of again extending the execution date.

He expressed confidence the courts will not order a new trial for McVeigh. ''These documents are not going to create any basis that I could in any way foresee for a new trial.''

Also Sunday, lawmakers pushed for congressional hearings, and Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., said he would ask Bush for a special commission to examine the FBI from top to bottom.

Schumer cited a number of problems at the FBI, including the February arrest of agent Robert Philip Hanssen, who is charged with selling national secrets to Moscow, and a botched investigation last year of former nuclear scientist Wen Ho Lee.

''We've had mistake after mistake after mistake,'' he said on CBS.

Ashcroft already has announced a separate Justice Department investigation.

Bush said last week he awaited the findings of two investigations into FBI procedures Ashcroft's and an earlier one ordered after the Hanssen charges and a White House spokeswoman pointed to them when asked about Schumer's request.

Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, criticized the FBI and its director, Louis Freeh, who recently announced he will retire in June.

''I think there is a management culture here that is at fault. I call it a cowboy culture. It is kind of a culture that puts image public relations and headlines ahead of the fundamentals,'' he told ABC. ''I don't think he (Freeh) has been willing to challenge the management culture.''

Congress must approve Freeh's eventual successor, and several lawmakers said they hope President Bush will choose someone who can reform the agency. Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., recommended more oversight of the FBI in general.

Meanwhile, lawyers for Terry Nichols, who was convicted of conspiracy in the bombing, said they filed an appeal with the Supreme Court just before midnight Friday, asking for a new trial.

The court in December denied an appeal for a new trial based on assertions by Nichols' lawyers that the prosecution had failed to disclose evidence that could have helped their client. Midnight Friday was the deadline for seeking a review of that dismissal.